Project Hail Mary: A Novel

This is an action packed and thoroughly explained space exploration story. Earth discovers a red streak above Venus that a schoolteacher scientist named Grace determines is some form of space fungus that feeds off sunlightlight/heat and absorbs carbon dioxide from Venus, using red emission to propel itself in between. Pretty neat. Grace is hired/kidnapped because he is a specialist in non-water life. But this space fungus appears to eat the sun at an exponential rate so the earth will solve global warming somewhat too heftily, giving the earth a few decades to live. Sadly to Grace's ego, it is found to be water based as well. But the little lifeforms can also be used to power spaceships, enabling them to find the fungus home world in hopes of finding a way to stop them. Another alien is there for the same reason and, in very intricate and true to space fashion, team up and become lovable friends. This new alien has evolved from extreme temperature and pressure conditions, so they must remain compartmentalized, each atmosphere poisonous to the other. Together they somehow find the truth about the "astrophage" from Tau Ceti.

Where this story wins my admiration is the extensive explanations of every single physical property of space travel and exobiology. In fact, it becomes a running joke that the protagonist jumps to the calculations. So it's always enjoyable to read a plausible sci-fi story. Where this story fails is the extensive explanation of every single sci-fi trope that any adamant sci-fi fan would have read oodles of times already. So although there are several enjoyable speculative elements, there aren't many, if any, that haven't been done many times before from the likes of Heinlein, Clarke, Asimov, Pohl, and Poul Anderson.

I wouldn't recommend this book for avid sci-fi and speculative fiction fans, but I would recommend it for readers that wish to venture into sci-fi. It is an inoffensive and family friendly story about an action packed space mystery.

One minor note, since the author attempts science realism, is that the rocky alien shouldn't be using ATP. The mechanism of the exothermic reaction requires hydrolysis, meaning "cleaved by water" (one molecule of water required for one ATP to ADP conversion). Meaning Grace didn't actually discover a non-water life form as he believes he did the second time around.